What kind of bird is the most powerful "monster" in Journey to the West, the Garuda?

When it comes to the most powerful monster in Journey to the West, the Garuda has the highest voice. As soon as it appeared, it beat Sun Wukong without any resistance. When the Tathagata Buddha went to capture the Garuda, almost all of them went out. Five hundred arhats, three thousand Jiedis, two followers, Kasyapa and Ananda, two bodhisattvas, Samantabhadra and Manjusri, plus two Buddha-level figures, Dipankara and Maitreya, finally subdued the Garuda. So does such a powerful monster have a prototype? What is the prototype of the Garuda in reality? Is there a creature similar to it in nature?

Research must trace back to its origin, to find its original source. Look at the description of the Garuda in the original text of Journey to the West: "Golden wings, Kun head, star eyes, leopard eyes. Looking north and south, strong and brave. It changes and soars, sparrows laugh and dragons cry. When it spreads its wings in the wind, hundreds of birds hide their heads, and when it spreads its sharp claws, other birds lose their courage. This is the Garuda that can fly 90,000 kilometers."

Garuda

Let's first look at this "Golden Wing Kun Head". This is obviously borrowed from Zhuangzi's statement. Kunpeng first appeared in the Taoist doctrine "Zhuangzi·Xiaoyaoyou". The book records: "There is a fish in the North Sea, its name is Kun. Kun is so big that no one knows how many thousands of miles it is; it turns into a bird, its name is Peng. Peng's back is no one knows how many thousands of miles long it is. It flies in anger, and its wings are like clouds hanging from the sky. This bird will migrate to the South Sea when it travels by sea. The South Sea is the Tianchi." This is the earliest source of Kunpeng. From a biological perspective, the animal described in Zhuangzi's words can be summarized in three words - it does not exist. There is no such bird or fish in nature. However, Zhuangzi is not a zoologist, so we cannot force it. In ancient times, Zhuangzi was a real literary writer, so we have to consider it from a cultural perspective. Let's assume that Zhuangzi has seen a bird. Based on this bird, he reveals the most important information to us, that this bird is big, very big! And it has the habit of migrating. In addition, Zhuangzi is Chinese and it is impossible for him to see birds that are unique to foreign countries. Then we can do the first screening of Chinese birds, with the keywords "large, migratory, seaside, China". We can basically limit the scope to large birds of prey. The whooper swan and the great bustard are also large, but these two birds have long been described in the Book of Songs, and Zhuangzi, as a famous writer, would not be unaware of them.

Golden Eagle

If Zhuangzi's description of Dapeng is still relatively abstract, then Mr. Wu Chengen further specified it based on Zhuangzi's description, adding the three words "golden-winged eagle". This indicates that an important feature of this bird's appearance is its golden wings. Strictly speaking, there is no eagle with golden wings in nature. But there is an eagle that is very close, and that is the golden eagle. In the summer vacation of 2011, I saw the golden eagle for the first time in the Alato Mountains in Xinjiang and was shocked by it: it is 70 to 85 cm long, with a wingspan of up to 2 meters, a golden crest on its head, and dark brown wings. Now it seems that the image of the golden eagle is both consistent with the "Peng" (a large bird of prey) and very close to the golden wings.

Looking at the habits, the Garuda "transforms and soars", soaring is an important feature of the golden eagle's flight. Small eagles can also do it, but they don't use it often. Let's continue, "When the wind blows, all birds hide their heads, and when the sharp claws are stretched out, all birds are frightened" means that all animals are afraid. In nature, the golden eagle feeds on small and medium-sized birds and animals. It is called the overlord of the sky and the king of birds of prey, which is very consistent with this characteristic.

Thunderstrike

Finally, from the perspective of habitat, the Garuda appeared in Lion Camel Ridge. Where is Lion Camel Ridge? This needs to be inferred. According to the route of the Journey to the West, Tang Monk and his disciples passed by Lion Camel Ridge in the 74th chapter of the book, which should be in the northern border of Afghanistan today, belonging to the Central Asian region. The Central Asian region is an important distribution and breeding area for golden eagles. Therefore, I can not only determine that there are golden eagles distributed in and around Lion Camel Ridge. It can also be further determined that the golden eagles distributed here are the Central Asian subspecies, one of the six subspecies of golden eagles, and are the largest in size. From a biological perspective, the prototype of the Garuda is closest to the golden eagle, which seems to be no problem. However, from a cultural attribute point of view, some people have proposed that "the prototype of the Garuda is the snake eagle." The reason is that in Journey to the West, the Garuda has a close relationship with the Buddha, and there is also an introduction to the Garuda in Buddhism: "The Garuda, also known as 'Garuda', originated from ancient Indian mythology and legends. It is the guardian image of one of the Eight Immortals in Buddhism, the leader of the divine bird Subhāna clan, and the king of all birds. The image of Garuda is mostly human face, bird beak, feather crown, human body above the waist, and bird body below. In Indian mythology, Garuda is a bird of prey between heaven and earth with great power. It is the mount of the great god Vishnu, feeds on dragons (large poisonous snakes in Indian mythology), has a wingspan of 3.36 million miles, and lives in the north of Mount Xumi." From the introduction, it can be seen that the Garuda likes to eat snakes, which is similar to the diet of the snake eagle.

Snake carving

However, it is also far-fetched to judge Garuda as a mythical snake eagle based solely on its eating habits. You should know that snake eagles are medium-sized birds of prey and will not become the king of birds. And snake eagles only catch non-venomous snakes. Scientists conducted special experiments and found that although the snake eagles raised in captivity have no experience of hunting in the wild and have not been taught to identify snakes by adult eagles, they can avoid objects with body colors and shapes similar to venomous snakes. Therefore, scientists believe that snake eagles have an innate instinct to avoid venomous snakes and do not like to eat venomous snakes. So is the snake eagle a Garuda?

Snake carving

I don't think so. Because there are records of snake eagles in ancient China. The ancient Chinese called snake eagles "鸩", which was considered a poisonous bird - "鸩 bird has a black body and red eyes, eats vipers and wild kudzu, and paints its feathers in wine, and drinks it to die instantly." The ancients soaked its feathers in wine to make poisonous wine, which became a way to kill people. "The Queen Mother was angry, so she asked people to pour two cups of 鸩 wine in front of the King of Qi to celebrate his birthday" in "Han Shu Qi Dao Hui Wang Biography" records this bloodless killing method. Li Shizhen also mentioned 鸩 in the bird section of "Compendium of Materia Medica". As a contemporary of Wu Chengen, there is no reason not to know. From a biological perspective, the most likely prototype of the Garuda in "Journey to the West" is the golden eagle. If animal attributes and culture are intertwined, it will be a mess.

Domineering Golden Eagle

In Journey to the West, although the Garuda bird caused some troubles on the way to Tang Monk's pilgrimage, it was safe after all. However, in reality, humans have caused countless troubles to golden eagles. Humans have destroyed the habitats of golden eagles and illegally hunted and sold golden eagles for profit, causing their families to be broken and the birds to die. Today, there are less than 10,000 golden eagles in China, and they are classified as first-class protected animals in China. There is a passage in Journey to the West that reads: "But see: fox skins covering shoulders and heads, brocade wrapped around waists and chests. Wolf tooth arrows are inserted in bags, and precious eagle bows are hung on hips. People are like tigers searching for mountains, and horses are like dragons jumping through streams. They lead dogs in groups and carry eagles on their arms. They carry cannons in thorn baskets and carry fixed Saker Falcons." What is this Saker Falcon? It has always been a mystery in my mind. According to historical records, Emperor Tianzuo of the Liao Dynasty was destroyed because of the Saker Falcon. A country was destroyed because of a bird? We naturally cannot think about ancient people with the ideas of modern people. To understand the situation at that time, we need to restore the background of the time.

Golden Eagle

Text and pictures from One Bird One World by Zhao Xumao, Chemical Industry Press